Full Circle
by Nirvana Renegade Seiga
Summary: AU Novelization of Jak II. The dark eco that Jak has been injected with has a little more than just power living inside it. And he wants to be let out. Told from a KG's perspective.
1. Chapter 1

**Full Circle**

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Jak and Daxter, nor anything that belongs to Naughty Dog.

**Author's Note:** After three years of a hiatus from in general, I was crawling through the J&D fanfiction and an idea sprung to me... thus, this late night posting to offer to my readers if any are still out there after all of these years.

**Warnings:** Spoilers for Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy, Jak II and Jak 3 knowledge.

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><p><em>Four Years Ago - July, 4998 - Wasteland, 44 clicks outside of Spargus City<em>

"Are you sure we should be out here Cutter?" a short guard asked nervously, jumping from side to side quickly in the blinding gold sand. "We're too far away from the drop point, it's not-"

The other guard scoffed abruptly, hauling a huge drill over his bare shoulder. His own Krimzon Guard armor lay in a pile a few clicks back where they had abandoned the small dune buggy in favour of hiking the nearby mountain. "What? It's not safe?" he scoffed once again, louder than before and hocked up a wad of spit while he was at it, shooting it towards a sad looking plant. It evaporated before it even touched down. "Hate to break it to you Jasper, but no matter where you are in the Wasteland, you're not safe."

Jasper breathed heavily through his face mask, something he had refused to remove even as his partner shed all armor available, leaving him in trousers and bare-chested. "But, we're out of radio contact as well," he whispered fearfully, as if someone out in the desert would hear them. The sun cast a shining glare on the drill Cutter was carrying and Jasper averted his head, glancing out over the barren lands instead. "Why couldn't we drill out near the drop anyways? I'm sure the Baron would be happy with whatever dark eco we discovered there!"

Sighing heavily, Cutter dropped the drill near a large boulder and rotated on his heavy government-issued boots. The sun beat down on his back; gently burning old Krimzon Guard scars a darker black than what they had been. He was in surprisingly good shape for a guard that lived a cush life, guarding the old-people who were thrown into the Fortress Prison for "radical ideas". Most guards on that job ate, drank and might as well have snort away any body and muscle mass they had to begin with. Cutter, for some reason, had kept in shape. And it was that reason that the Baron asked he go on this mission into the Wasteland. A mission that Jasper was very ill-informed about. "Do you know exactly _why_ we were sent out into the Wasteland to gather Dark Eco instead of the old ruins or somewhere else?"

Shifting on the hot sand, the young guard shook his head swiftly and uncertainly. "I thought it was..." he stopped and shook his head again. "No."

A breeze picked up and blew gently through them, rifling Cutter's slightly shaggy black hair around his tattooed and pale face. "A few weeks ago, a guard was sent on his rounds to the soothsayers down in the Bazaar. The job was to question them, you know, figure out if any new channelers were being born or found, where the latest deposits of eco were hiding... the usual," he waved his hand in indifference and shifted his weight. "But, while talking to an old blind woman, she mentioned a store of dark eco that would be shown by the next sandstorm."

"You mean the one a few days ago?" Jasper asked and Cutter nodded once.

"Exactly. When the guard relayed the information to the Baron, he became ecstatic. See, his lab rats, on their ever-money-sucking quest to create the "all powerful warrior", formulated a theory that dark eco, when pumped into channelers, or however they distribute the eco into those poor bastards, could do something _new_ to the channelers," his voice, thick with disdain a moment ago, suddenly lightened into wonder. "This news of a cache of dark eco was beautiful noise to the Baron's ears. He wants REAL, UNTAINTED dark eco, not the fake stuff that the scientists are making."

Frowning in thought, Jasper looked at the coordinates on his small GPS and then slightly up the hill where they were supposed to be. "And this cache... should be here?" he asked softly.

Cutter laughed boisterously and clapped the young guard on his armor. "Hell if I know! I know these old hills pretty well, this one has yielded some interesting artefacts in the past, and I was making a guess this time around as well!"

Still laughing and imaging the look of disbelief that was on Jasper's face underneath his mask, Cutter grabbed the drill and started to hike back up the hill again, waiting for the other to scramble after him, stuttering out half-meant threats of court-martialing and other silly things.

As the sun started to make its final descent for the day and Jasper was getting really nervous with being so far away from the drop point, Cutter gave a loud exclamation a few yards away and threw the drill to the ground and dove his hands in a long, deep hole.

The sand was cool this far down beneath the surface and Cutter's sun burnt face was twisted with mild trepidation and fear. Stingers loved to hide in the sand, and for all he knew, he was sticking his hand into a big ol' bath of-_oh._ His eyes snapped open. "Jasper," he whispered and the guard scurried over. "Whatever I'm touching... it's not a Stinger, it's not fleshy, and it sorta feels like pottery."

He clenched his fingers around the sand-smooth pottery and gingerly started to pull, who knows what would happen if his fingers slipped and he dropped the piece down. The sand could move immediately and cover it up again, left for eons until another soothsayer mentioned it to some inquiring guard. But... he gritted his teeth together and pulled it further... if he managed to get it out of the sand, he would-

"You got it!" Jasper cheered, his young face beaming. His mask had finally lost itself an hour or three ago. "You've retrieved a..." he faltered. "What is that?"

Cutter had no idea. It wasn't pottery, that was for sure. It was long and cylindrical, but smooth and black like a piece of steel. But... "It looks like solid eco," he said aloud and turned it over in his hands slowly. It had no pulse to it like normal eco crystals did. He was no scientist, but having handled red and yellow eco crystals, Cutter assumed they were all have a certain "pulse of life" that they carried.

Jasper crouched down next to him and frowned, shivering unexpectedly. "It feels... _evil_, Cutter. Like we shouldn't have retrieved it," he whispered nervously, once again jittering on his feet. "Maybe you should put it back?"

Distracted by the movements the eco made as the sun collided with it, Cutter absently shook his head. "No... I think this is what the Baron has been looking for. It's..."

A voice, not his own, purred through his mind, _it's perfect._

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><p><em>Two Years Ago - July, 5000 - Industrial Section, Haven City<em>

The sky was silent and sludgy brown that day, not a lick of sunlight streaming through the polluted clouds. Cutter was quiet and distraught as he marched behind Commander Errol slowly. Two years had passed since he had delivered the eco cylinder to the Baron and his mind had yet to stop thinking. Unbelievably, he could still hear the voice in his head, whispering and telling him to steal it back, to take the cylinder away from this city and deliver it... somewhere.

"Lieutenant Cutter!" Errol suddenly barked and the guard straightened his back. "I will not have you day-dreaming like some fucking pansy while we're on-"

"Sir!" another guard suddenly shouted and Errol redirected his anger onto the young cadet. "I-"

Anger flooded the redheads' words. "I will NOT tolerate anyone, lest of all a lowly cretin like you to interrupt-"

Cutter realized what had caught the cadet's attention. "Commander, I suggest you-"

"STOP FUCKING INTERRUPTING ME!" Errol shouted but hesitated right after as he noticed everyone's eyes on the sky. Spinning around and following onlookers' gasps and points, he saw the sky open up, purple and violent, shooting out some black meteor. A grin spread across his thin lips and the anger left him faster than air. "Squad, we investigate now!"

Cutter assumed his role behind Errol as they took off at a run towards the crash site. It appeared to have been merely a few blocks away, the tremors could still be felt in the highway they were walking on themselves. Excitement flooded his veins and the voice in his head was momentarily forgotten as they spun a corner.

A young boy was standing barefooted, looking around with wide, terrified blue eyes. He was dressed in primitive clothing, ragged trousers and a fur vest of some sort. "There they are. Move in," Errol ordered in their headsets and the guard slowed, nearing them. A strange orange animal stood nearby, standing on its hind legs and looking bewildered and lost.

Errol stepped up ahead of his squad and held his gun up at the air. "Step away from the animal!" he ordered.

The orange creature took one look at the guard and screamed loud and too-humanly before running straight between Cutter's legs and down the ramp. Cutter stiffened and made to follow.

"Forget the rat. The Baron wants him," Errol almost purred and walked towards the short, terrified boy. "We've been waiting for you." He raised his gun and brought it down on his neck.

As the squad gathered their new prisoner and began to walk away, Cutter could have sworn he heard a vow, shouted by a small, squeaky male voice somewhere up in a zoomer.

_"Don't worry Jak, I'll save ya before you know it!"_

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><p>And welcome to chapter one!<p>

As always, Read and Review lovelies!


	2. Chapter 2

**Full Circle**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Jak and Daxter, nor anything that belongs to Naughty Dog.

**Author's Note:** Forgive the late, _extremely late_ update. Life caught up to me.

**Warnings:** If you haven't played the Jak and Daxter games, there might be some spoilers. Possibly graphic images to some.

**Dedication: **If it wasn't for MistyDL99, I honestly don't think I would have come back to this. Thanks for the idea! And to all of my other reviewers and readers, I'm ready to hear what you got to say! Thank you **The Dark Strategist** and **Choco peep** for your support (even if it was years ago).

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><p><em>August, 5000 – Fortress – Offices<em>

"Are you sure you want to be transferred?" their HR woman was short and stout with about a thousand golden pins holding her hideous yellow hair in place. She was gruff and crude, chewing on purple mushroom leaves that left her teeth stained a horrendous purple and green. But...

_No_, Cutter decided as he tried his hardest not to stare at her teeth. _Nothing can make up for the horror of having to deal with this woman…_ Snapping back to reality and away from the purple, he nodded once quickly, standing before her desk without uniform. If everything went correctly, he would be issued new armor and weapons within fifteen minutes.

She snorted and a glob of something purple trickled out of one nostril to land on his paperwork. Horrified, he could only watch as she smeared it away, leaving an even longer trail of colored snot on the transfer papers. "Alright, whatever you say kid. You're good to go. Transferred straight into the dungeons," she drawled and handed him the small stack of papers. "Why anyone would want to go there…"

A motion of 'shoo' was his only cue that it was time to leave and head to the armory to receive his new provisions. Cutter couldn't leave fast enough.

Once in the hallway, a guard leaning against the wall looked up at him, bright, fiery orange hair surrounding a pale and freckled face. "You transferred?" Errol asked, unfolding his arms to reach for the transfer papers. Scanning them quickly, Cutter pocketed them back into his loose jeans, aching for the protection of the armor. "Good. Go down and get your armor then report to the Prison Cells, Block 2B. We'll wait—but not for long," he ordered and sauntered off towards the cells in the lowest levels of the Fortress.

Saluting to his superior's back, Cutter hurried in the opposite direction and up a few flights of stairs.

He wasn't sure why he had asked to transfer with Errol into the Program, as it was called. But that voice, the one that hadn't left him since that day in the Wasteland, murmured that it might be a good idea. _He_, Cutter was sure the voice was a he at this point, mentioned that the dark eco was calling him there. That _he_ needed to be there when the scientists opened the containers. Cutter was under the belief that there was no way that the scientists hadn't already opened them under curiosity, but the voice was adamant that nothing had been disturbed yet.

_Trust me,_ that voice slithered into his thoughts again and he shivered, _I'd know_.

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><p>Cellblock 2B previously had not existed. Well, in a manner of speaking it had. But to the general public, to the general guard force, it had not existed.<p>

Cutter hadn't even known of its existence until Errol had walked up to him the week before and asked him if he wanted to transfer into a new, experimental guard force. Upon agreeing to the transfer he had expected to learn a little bit more about Cellblock 2B and the secrets it was obviously hiding.

Unfortunately, nothing was revealed. He was told he'd have to wait for his transfer to get approved by the Baron before anything else would be released. But now that he was transferred, it was time to learn what all the buzz was about.

After receiving his new armor, armor that looked exactly the same as his previous Krimzon Guard armor, he made his way back down into the prison, three stories beneath ground level and far away from the public and sunlight. Cellblock 1A, 2A, 3A and 1B were just as he imagined a prison cellblock looked like. Brightly light, almost painfully so, with steel cells on each side of him full of people who had wronged Haven City in some way.

But as he left 2B and went down another flight of stairs, things began to look a little different.

Clean concrete and steel cells disappeared to be replaced by old stone and mortar walls. Water dripped between open cracks to form puddles on the floor that would never be mopped or swept clean. Lights were replaced with torches and he swore that he could hear the sounds of small animals scurrying about behind the walls.

A bright flourscent light gleamed at the end of the tunnel and a guard stood at the entrance into the cellblock. Cutter hurried through the dark, pulling his badge out and lifting his new metal mask up as he went. "Cutter Mitchell, just transferred," he introduced himself and handed the stained transfer papers over, glancing over his shoulder at the dark ominous tunnel. A shiver raced down his spine. _What have I gotten myself into?_

As the guard ran his information through the small computer at his station, Cutter tried to look over the guard's shoulder into the next hallway. Nothing could be seen but something sweet was in the air with a mild acidic aftertaste that burned the back of his throat. The voice in his head recognized it with a soft sound that didn't do anything to calm his nerves. The papers were handed back and the gate opened behind the guard's station with an earsplitting creak. "Go on, the Baron's waiting," he muttered and idly began playing with a pen.

The floor was covered in green algae, squashed where other guards had walked on it and there were strange dark brown stains in certain areas, slowly being covered up by the plants. His frown deepened, _just what is going on down here?_ This hallway was lit by torches as well and every step taken echoed against the walls and the dripping water.

Another door was at the end of this hallway underneath a singular fluorescent light and he pushed it open, grunting against the weight of the metal. When it was open wide enough to allow sound to pass, he almost shut the door again and ran back upstairs. He pressed his back against the door, eyes wide and heart pounding against his ribcage. The noises were still echoing in his head.

People were screaming.

"What the fuck…?" he whispered and shouldered his way into the cellblock. Cells lined either side of him, stretching down a long hallway to another florescent light at the end. Torches were placed next to each cell casting a dim light on what he hoped were just muddy water puddles on the floor. The screams had died down to mere whimpers, soft cries asking for water, food, help, even more eco from some of them.

Cutter crept slowly down the cellblock, looking into each cell he passed, eyes wide and fingers clenched tight at his hips. Every cell was occupied by someone. Males and females of all ages clung to the bars, begging him vocally and silently. Some of them looked relatively healthy, a few scratches, maybe a little rib beginning to show beneath the drab, brown prison garb. But a few of them… He hurried past those, trying to keep his focus on the light and not what was in those cells.

_Stop._

He stopped and looked. The last cell on the right held a prone specimen. Inside was a woman… or what might have once been a woman. She was on her stomach by the bars, staring up at him through large black eyes, bug-eyed and without a pupil. Bony protrusions jutted out from her back in different heights, blood and flesh hanging off of them weakly where something had gone wrong. An extra limb of some sort flopped out of her stomach, additional appendages opening and closing in the air without rhythm or use.

_Get closer_.

He crouched down, not his own intrigue overruling his personal disgust as he stared at her. She rolled her eyes up to look at him and as she opened her mouth, something fell out, hitting the floor.

"Ahh!" Her tongue dragged on the algae, blood weeping from it as she gurgled on the appendage, real fingers now grasping at the bars, their neighboring nubs bumping against the metal. "_Kill… me…"_ she hissed around her tongue. Black eyes blinked vertically then horizontally. "_Kill me… before they do._"

"NO! GET AWAY!"

Errol and another guard were attracted by his yelling and his commander rushed into the cells, kicking the woman through the bars into the corner. She screamed as the bony protrusions on her back shattered against the wall and Cutter could only cover his face and scream with her. The voice was laughing, loudly and constantly, and Cutter could imagine, just for a second, a white horned face grinning at him, with pitch black eyes, lacking a pupil.

_You've just met the beginning, Cutter. She's only the start…_

He opened his mouth and screamed.


End file.
